Well, tomorrow was the day that LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines was going to come back with a decision on whether the planned layoffs could be avoided. It looks like for a lot of teachers, it was. "L.A. school officials drop plan to lay off 1,900 teachers," by Howard Blume April 13, 2009, 2:06 p.m. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/04/lausd-teachers.html
There still will likely be a lot of teachers having to leave, and these would be the lowest on the seniority list. As a teacher, even a new teacher, I remember it was always good to have a little seniority over the next newer teacher for the occasional benefits that it conferred, like room assignments, to some extent. Keeping your job is probably the biggest and best impact for a teacher with some superior seniority over other teachers.
Now, the changes will come with the way Supt. Cortines will use some stimulus money, unless he is legally prevented from applying it as he intends. The details were still not quite available, but it looks like some shifting around will save a lot of teaching jobs. It sure will avoid a lot of chaos in the elementary school where the jobs saves are planned.
One effect that the announced change will have is to make the union and some other teachers distrust the District's pleas when they say "We don't have any alternative," or, "We don't have any choice here." Well, that's part of what you get in the situation. You just don't know when it's honestly the end of the road or if you are being made as the one to give in on your position.
We shall see more tomorrow, but there's probably a lot more teachers and parent breathing a little easier now.
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